Information storage devices are used to retrieve and/or store data in computers and other consumer electronics devices. A magnetic hard disk drive is an example of an information storage device that includes one or more heads that can both read and write, but other information storage devices also include heads—sometimes including heads that cannot write. For convenience, all heads that can read are referred to as “read heads” herein, regardless of other devices and functions the read head may also perform (e.g. writing, flying height control, touch down detection, lapping control, etc).
In a modern magnetic hard disk drive device, each read head is a sub-component of a head gimbal assembly (HGA). The read head typically includes a slider and a read/write transducer. The read/write transducer typically comprises a magneto-resistive read element (e.g. so-called giant magneto-resistive read element, or a tunneling magneto-resistive read element), and an inductive write structure comprising a flat coil deposited by photolithography, and a yoke structure having pole tips that face a disk media. The HGA typically also includes a suspension assembly that includes a mounting plate, a load beam, and a laminated flexure to carry the electrical signals to and from the read head. The read head is typically bonded to a tongue feature of the laminated flexure.
The HGA, in turn, is a sub-component of a head stack assembly (HSA) that typically includes a plurality of HGAs, a head actuator, and a flex cable. The mounting plate of each suspension assembly is attached to an arm of the head actuator (e.g. by swaging), and each of the laminated flexures includes a flexure tail that is electrically connected to the HSA's flex cable (e.g. by solder reflow bonding or ultrasonic bonding). The angular position of the HSA, and therefore the position of the read heads relative to data tracks on the disks, is actively controlled by the head actuator which is typically driven by a voice coil motor (VCM). Specifically, electrical current passed through a coil of the VCM applies a torque to the head actuator, so that the read head can seek and follow desired data tracks on the spinning disk.
The head actuator of the HSA is pivotally attached to a base of the disk drive, for example by an actuator pivot bearing cartridge that allows the HSA to pivot. The relative position of other disk drive components limits such pivoting to a limited angular range. The actuator pivot bearing cartridge typically includes a lubricant such as grease. However, small amounts of the lubricant may undesirably migrate from the actuator pivot bearing cartridge to other locations within the disk drive, such as the head or disk. Such lubricant migration can thereby contaminate other disk drive components (e.g. the head or disk), reducing the reliability and/or lifetime of the disk drive and threating the data stored within. Hence, there is a need in the art for a disk drive actuator pivot bearing that can reduce the migration of an internal lubricant.